This invention relates generally to bank night depositories, automated teller machine (ATM) depositories, under-counter depositories, gaming table depositories and the like, and more particularly to a novel deposit retrieval and transport apparatus arranged to facilitate the secure collection and transport of deposited material from depositories to its destination at a deposit processing facility.
Typically, unattended bank night depositories, ATM depositories and the like are emptied of deposits on a pre-arranged schedule by bank employees or armored transport contractors who typically must follow a specific collection procedure in order to document and assure the continuous chain of custody of deposits from their placement into the depositories through to their receipt by processing personnel responsible for the deposits. In this regard, the collection/transport process requires security personnel to first access the interior vault portion of the bank, ATM or other depository. Normally, since this area is well protected against unauthorized tampering and entry by the public, deposits that enter through the various security deposit door mechanisms of the depositories simply fall into an open container located within the safe. The collection personnel, after accessing the depository vault, empties the container and individually records the retrieved deposits which are then transferred to a security transport bag or the like and thence transported to a designated location for processing.
It is readily apparent that the foregoing retrieval and transport operation depends upon the integrity and honesty of the collecting and transporting personnel, because not only do they have full and completely un-monitored access to the deposits, the actual record of the chain of custody of the retrieved deposits is dependent solely on their own recordation of the deposits they handle. Accordingly, not only does this collection process entail a significant amount of time handling and manifesting deposits collected at each. depository, the deposits are open to tampering without any concrete safeguards that can reliably evidence or otherwise discourage tampering with deposits enroute to the bank for processing.